Tinder Horror Stories from Irish College Students

It’s difficult for many of us to recall a time before Tinder. It burst onto the smartphone scene back in the day (2012), transforming how we meet, connect (and hook up) with people. Apparently, before Tinder, people used to get dressed, leave their houses, and actually approach somebody if they felt they were a “match”. We have it so easy now!

Or do we?

After our oxygen.ie reporters got chatting to students in numerous campuses around the country, we’ve realised that not every Tinder experience is a success. We asked hundreds of students to tell us about their WORST Tinder experience, and below are snippets of the best (worst) stories we heard.

“On my first Tinder date I met a guy for pizza. He seemed really nice, until we got into a conversation about which is the superior sex. It started off as a joke, but then he got really passionate about it, and started to tell me that it has been proven that men are more intelligent than women. He told me that women have irrational emotional reactions to everything, and that it has all been proven so I shouldn’t even bother arguing. The pizza was good though”

Sarah, 22, UCC

“During the Summer I was messaging this one lass on Tinder for about two weeks … She was my cousin”

Eamonn, 24, Maynooth University

“When I was on my j1, I matched with one guy who was so cute he looked like an actual movie star or something. We swapped numbers and snapchats, and a couple of nights later at a house party, the girls convinced me to invite him and a few of his friends. When he turned up, I walked over to his car and was delighted to see he was even better looking in person! Then, he got out of the car, and I realised he was just over 4 foot tall! I’m 5.9, but I didn’t want to be mean, so I took his hand and led him into the party. We must have looked ridiculous, but that’s not even the worst part! He brought three friends with him, who were police officers (they had badges), and they were all actual GIANTS … Like 7 foot tall. It was all just so weird!”

Eilis, 22, DCU

“There was this one lad who stole all the sugar packets from the cafe we were having coffee at. He stuffed his pockets with them! It wasn’t even a joke”

Megan, 22, TCD

“I went for drinks with a girl from Tinder last Christmas. When I turned up she had bought me a Christmas present! It was wrapped, and she told me I wasn’t allowed to open it until the end of the night. You can just imagine what was going through my head! But as the drinks started to flow, she mentioned a few times that she was disappointed I didn’t buy her a present too. I thought it was a joke, but then she told me that she felt a bit let down because she was really excited about me – she had told her family about me, and wanted me to meet them next week, but now she wasn’t so sure. When I opened the present, it was a picture frame with “Our First Date” written across the top”

Brian, 23, GMIT

“My worst experience with Tinder was the time I got a Tinder notification on my phone, and then realised I don’t even have Tinder … I was holding my boyfriends phone”

Amy, 21, UL

“Back in first year, I was a bit innocent. I genuinely thought Netflix and chill meant what it says on the tin! Needless to say I got a right shock when I went to this one birds house for a bit of Netflix, and she started to tie me up and everything! I nearly died”

Alan, 22, UCD

“My best friend matched a lad on Tinder, and started to snap him some kind of, like, nude pics. The next weekend, she started a new job in a cafe, and it turned out the lad was her manager!”

Aideen, 20, CIT

“I had been on a couple of dates with one girl, and we decided to go on a road trip one day. We were driving to the cliffs in Clare, it was about 2 hours drive, and all the way there she munched on cheese and onion Taytos, and threw the bags out the window!”

Darragh, 21, LIT

“I went for drinks with one girl, and drunkenly invited her back to my house. She was so hot, so I couldn’t believe it when she said yes. Then, back at my house, she sat me down on the bed and started to do my make up!!”

Gary, 19, LIT

“I was messaging one lad and he seemed PERFECT! Good looking, funny, intelligent.. and so sound! We met for the first time last week, and the first thing I noticed were his TINY HANDS. It sounds so bad, but once I noticed them, I couldn’t un-notice it!”

Anna, 20, Sligo IT

“The one time I invited a guy to my place from Tinder, the second we started to shift he kept saying OH MAMA. I wanted to ask him to leave, but instead I broke down laughing. It was VERY awkward”